Forest Hills High School

Infobox Secondary school
name = Forest Hills High School

established = 1937
address = 67-01 110th Street - Forest Hills, New York 11375
city = City of New York
state = New York State
country = United States of America
type = Public secondary
grades = 9-12
principal = Saul Gootnick| school body president = Syed S. Hossain
enrollment = approx. 3600
colors = Red, blue and gold
mascot = Rangers
address = 67-01 110th St.
city = Forest Hills, Queens, New York
state = New York
country = USA
newspaper = "The Beacon"
yearbook = "Forester"
website = [http://www.fhhsweb.org www.fhhsweb.org]

Forest Hills High School (FHHS) is a public secondary school in Queens, New York City.

FHHS was dedicated in 1937 [ [http://www.queensnewyork.com/forest/chronology.html new york city nyc queens forest hills rego park 1776 chronology history gardens colonial houses revolutionary war jeff gottlieb ] ] . It educates students in grades 9-12 and is operated by the New York City Department of Education. FHHS is located near Flushing Meadow Park, site of two World's Fairs.

Location

Forest Hills High School is in the Forest Hills neighborhood in Queens. The school is near Rego Park.

The School serves the Forest Hills and Rego Park sections of Queens. However, many students come from nearby neighborhoods such as Kew Gardens, Woodside, and parts of Jamaica.

FHHS frequently has been extremely overcrowded throughout its history, sometimes running three overlapping sessions. Traditionally, a very large fraction of FHHS graduates have gone on to attend college [ [http://www.fhhsweb.org/index/content/action/Our_School Our School ] ] .

Academics

Special programs offered in the school include Intel Science Talent Search, Law and Humanities Honor Program, Medical Biology (year-long program where students intern at a local hospital for one semester), Part Time Co-op (Business), Pace (Business), Academy of Public Service, Carl Sagan Advancement of Science and Math (where students also compete in Westinghouse), Richard A. Brown Law Program, Gilder Lehrman Academy, College Now, and the Performing Arts Academy.

In the 2007-2008 school year, FHHS offered Advanced Placement classes in Art History, Biology, Calculus AB, Calculus BC, Chemistry, Computer Science AB, English Literature and Composition, Environmental Science, French Language, Government and Politics: United States, Human Geography, Macroeconomics, Microeconomics, Physics B, Physics C: Electricity and Magnetism, Physics C: Mechanics, Psychology, Spanish Language, Spanish Literature, Statistics, United States History, and World History. As a general rule, FHHS administrators require students to take the appropriate AP exam in the course in which they've enrolled during the month of May.

Extracurricular activity

The annual theater competition known as SING! pits seniors, juniors, and "sophmen" (freshmen and sophomores working together) against each other in a race to put on the best performance. Started in 1947 at Midwood High School in Brooklyn, SING! is a tradition at many New York City high schools.

At Forest Hills, SING! was well-established by the end of the 1960s: Leslie Urdang, who went on to become a Hollywood producer (see below) was Chairman of Senior Sing 1972. It is now a huge school-wide event — in 2005, nearly 500 students participated. The entire production is written, produced, directed and funded by students.

Forest Hills has a wide range of clubs and activities students can participate in. Everything from a Model UN club to Key Club is offered within the school. In the new 2007-2008 school year, a new COSA (Coordinator of Student Affairs) and new student body president have been working together with objective of improving student life and giving Forest Hills a new aura.

Notable alumni

Many of FHHS's most famous students have gained recognition in entertainment fields. These include childhood-TV veteran Captain Kangaroo (Bob Keeshan), perennial TV-serial star Michael Landon, TV freak-show host and one-time mayor of Cincinnati Jerry Springer, Dave Rubinstein deceased singer of Reagan Youth, "easy listening" songwriter Burt Bacharach (Class of 1946), folk-rockers Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel; rock guitarist Leslie West (the band Mountain), and punk-rock pioneers The Ramones. Graduates who went on to become prominent entertainment producers include network-TV's Fred Silverman, Hollywood's Leslie Urdang [http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0881811/] Graduate and TV producer Neil Moreno [http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1680835/] was nominated for a [http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/search/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1000441074 2004 New York Emmy] .

The class of 1962 produced three famous figures in American history: New York City cult icon, artist Arthur Cohen, world famous Holocaust historian and Ramapo College professor Michael Riff, and famed attorney Lawrence Schonbrun, known for his campaign against excessive class action legal fees.

Mark Gompertz, class of 1972,also a SING executive, is publisher of the [http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/11/books/11fres.html Touchstone Fireside division of Simon & Schuster] . Court of Appeals judge Robert Katzmann is a member of the Class of 1970. Former NBA player and current Washington Wizards' General Manager Ernie Grunfeld also attended FHHS. Novelist Katharine Weber attended FHHS.

War-time dropout ^{[http://www.tms.tribune.com/htmlmail/consumer/profiles/bios/buchwaldbio.htm]} ,the late Art Buchwald, Class of 1943, won the Pulitzer Prize twice. Key organizer and executive of NASA, [http://history.nasa.gov/ap11-35ann/adminbios.html#low George Low] , Class of 1943, served as chief of manned space flight. After retiring from NASA, he served as president of RPI until his demise in 1984. The first space tourist, ex-NASA engineer and millionaire investment fund manager [http://www.queenstribune.com/archives/featurearchive/feature2001/0503/feature_story.html Dennis Tito] , graduated FHHS in 1958.

In June 1998, US President Bill Clinton cited FHHS's "academic and extracurricular excellence" and it became one of only 124 "Blue Ribbon" schools nationwide. ^{[http://www.queenstribune.com/anniversary2003/1998.htm]} In 2000, US First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton delivered the [http://clinton4.nara.gov/WH/EOP/First_Lady/html/generalspeeches/Fri_Sep_15_105411_2000.html commencement address.] . Jacob J. ("Jack") Lew, a 1972 graduate of FHHS, was then the Clinton administration's Director of the Office of Management and Budget, having been elevated to the post [http://clinton4.nara.gov/WH/New/html/19980415-12692.html two years earlier.]

An elusive billionaire whose 'Cinderella-midnight' pardon by outgoing President Clinton caused a furor, commodity trader Marc Rich, attended FHHS for a while in the 1950s, until he was enrolled in an exclusive prep academy, Rhodes Preparatory School. The crimes for which Rich was forgiven by Clinton include the largest tax-evasion case ($48 million) in history.

References

External links

* [http://www.fhhsweb.org Official FHHS Web site]
* [http://schools.nyc.gov/Offices/StudentEnroll/HSAdmissions/HSDirectory/Book/?sid=610 Current profile, NYC Department of Education]
* [http://schools.nyc.gov/OurSchools/Region3/Q440/AboutUs/Statistics/default.htm Current statistics, NYC Department of Education]
* [http://schools.nyc.gov/daa/SchoolReports/06asr/428440.PDF 2005-2006 annual report, NYC Department of Education]
* [http://schools.nyc.gov/daa/SchoolReports/05asr/428440.PDF 2004-2005 annual report, NYC Department of Education]
* [https://schools.nyc.gov/daa/SchoolReports/04asr/428440.PDF 2003-2004 annual report, NYC Department of Education]
* [http://schools.nyc.gov/daa/SchoolReports/03asr/477440.pdf?%20target= 2002-2003 annual report, NYC Department of Education]
* [http://www.mediaworkshop.org/fhhs/fhhs2002/ An older (2002) FHHS Web site]
* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qZPpJwMDMwg 2007 video] in which Intel ISEF finalists and alumni from Forest Hills High School spoke about the nature of research and the road to the Fair